WASHINGTON — It’s been a busy Sunday for the two main contenders in the US presidential race with less than 24 hours to go until polling day on Tuesday.
Both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump held campaign events in key swing states, battleground areas widely expected to decide the outcome of the election.
Harris campaigned in Michigan with Trump blitzing through Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
Harris vowed to “turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division” during a rally in East Lansing.
“We are done with that and we are exhausted with it,” she told the crowd of supporters.
“Well, you all know what we say: we are not going back. We are not going back. We are not going back because ours is a fight for the future.”
Harris described the upcoming election as “one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime,” and expressed confidence that she would win the race for the White House.
She also repeated her pledge to protect women’s reproductive rights, saying that when the day comes that Congress passes a bill to restore such freedoms nationwide she would “proudly sign it into law.”
But during a campaign stop in Detroit, Harris refused to say how she voted on measures that would reverse criminal justice reforms approved in recent years in her home state of California.
“I am not going to talk about the vote on that,” she said, adding that she didn’t want to “create an endorsement one way or another around it”.
If passed the initiative, known as Prop 36, would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Proponents said the initiative is necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that have made it challenging for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.
But opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said it would disproportionately imprison poor people and those with substance use issues rather than target ringleaders.
Harris’ decision not to publicly state her position on the high-profile initiative could leave her open to criticism from Trump that she is being soft on crime and from some left-leaning voters who would like to see her speak out forcefully against what they perceive as draconian anticrime efforts.
Trump meanwhile spoke confidently of an election victory at his rally in Kinston, North Carolina.
“Because we have a big, beautiful lead. All we have to do is go out on Tuesday and vote, vote, vote. We’re going to win it,” he said.
Poll trackers however suggest that Trump and Harris remain neck and neck in North Carolina as well as in six other swing states.
Trump also slammed the Biden administration for their response to Hurricane Helene which ripped through North Carolina in September, killing at least 100 people.
“I also want to send our prayers to everyone here in North Carolina who is still recovering from this unbelievable hurricane, the size of it. Hurricane Helene, Kamala’s hurricane response was a disgrace and it was a betrayal,” he said.
He also pledged to slap tariffs on countries “that have been hurting us” and blasted longtime GOP leader Senator Mitch McConnell who is stepping aside from the post in January after almost two decades as leader.
At a rally earlier in the day in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Trump resorted to familiar, unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging, claiming that fraud was already under way in the state.
“They found, as I understand it…2,600 ballots all done by the same hand, in other words, the same exact penmanship, the same hand, the same everything, it was all done by the same pen, the exact same pen. And then they go and say, ‘Well, this is a conspiracy theorist.’ It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to our country.”
Trump’s campaign has promised to deploy legal teams across the country to file cases alleging voter fraud and is already taking legal action in the state of Georgia, levelling claims of “illegal election administration” after certain counties kept polling locations open over the weekend to receive early ballots.
Like many other pollsters, FiveThirtyEight, which Euronews is using for its election data, predicts an incredibly close race with Harris currently polling at 48% and Trump at just under 47%.
The final days of campaigning have focussed mainly on the swing states, which in this election are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. — Euronews